Tuning Up the U.S. Job Machine

By

Robert J. Samuelson The Washington Post

Updated Sept. 17, 2003 12:01 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON -- If you're wondering what happened to the "great American job machine," so is everyone else.

Since February 2001, private employment has fallen by 3.3 million, says the Labor Department. Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, says that this is the longest stretch without job creation since the 1930s. When, if ever, will the fabulous machine start to purr? The answer could...